At his Paris Couture Week debut, the designer impresses with fabric and cut

If Duchess satin did not exist, Giles Deacon would have to invent it. He has a penchant for the nobility, but being British, he veers towards the more eccentric kind, like Lady Ottoline Morrell, who hung out in the artistic milieu at the turn of the 20th century.

Thus the unfussy grandeur of this impeccably made collection – the first that Giles has shown during the Paris Couture season. And although he has yet to put these clothes on the catwalk, the display had character in its striking colours and intriguing materials.

“I just did not want it to be a collection where you just have a rail of monogamous -looking clothes. I wanted each one to have its own individual character, with short and long pieces and with jacquards and embroid

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Couture should be up close and personal, and it was a pleasure to hear from the designer’s mouth how he had seen pictures of Fabergé eggs in a book of his father’s – and had then been inspired to turn the oval patterns into a print.

Likewise, on a visit to the British Embassy in Paris, he saw exceptional fabric and traced it to the Gainsborough Silk Weaving Company in England, then used their handwork to create materials for his designs.

Judging by the bustle of visitors at his presentation, potential clients are eager to pick up an original talent, especially where the designer makes bold gestures with a regal cape gown or a cocktail-hour dress – short, A-line and smothered in laser-cut flowers.